Porsche valued at up to $75bn in share sale

Frankfurt, Sep 19

German car making giant Volkswagen (VW) has said it is aiming for a valuation of up to 75 billion euro ($75 billion) for Porsche when the luxury brand is floated on the stock market, media reports said.

Trading in the shares is due to start in Frankfurt on September 29, BBC reported.

A prospectus will be published on Monday, after which investors can subscribe to Porsche shares. The share sale is set to be Germany's second-largest ever initial public offering (IPO), the report said.

"We are now in the home stretch with the IPO plans for Porsche and welcome the commitment of our cornerstone investors," said VW's Chief Financial Officer, Arno Antlitz.

VW said that it will price preferred shares in the flotation of Porsche at 76.50 to 82.50 euro per share, which would give the sportscar maker a stock market valuation of 70-75 billion euro.

At the upper end of the range it would be Europe's third-largest IPO on record, BBC reported.

However, the figures announced on Sunday fell short of an earlier valuation target - as much as 85 billion euro - amid investor concerns over rising interest rates and a potential global recession.

VW said it will raise as much as 9.4 billion euro from the share sale, which will help pay for its shift to electric vehicles and spending on software development.

If the IPO goes ahead, VW said it will hold a meeting for investors in December when it plans to propose distributing a special dividend - 49 per cent of the total gross proceeds - from the share sale to shareholders.

The deal comes even as relatively few companies have listed shares in Europe this year as the region faces an energy crisis, high inflation and rate hikes, BBC reported.

Under the IPO plan, the Porsche-Piech family - which lost control of the iconic brand to VW over a decade ago - will pay a premium to purchase shares that will hand back to it significant decision-making power.